The feel of the steering wheel beneath your fingertips, the surge of great power at the touch of a toe, the growl of that downshift as you force through your gear shifts?

Whichever it is that pushes your buttons when in that drivers seat, it cannot be denied that the ultimate drive experience is felt when you take control of the wheel. Indeed, there is no other feeling than that of which you feel when unlocking the doors of our Aston Martin Vanquish, for example, or indeed, the luxury Bentley GTC V8.

However, as technology leaps forward without letup, the advancement toward a total autonomous driving option is ever present. Such technological masterminding, at the opposite end of the spectrum, also promises to provide magic behind the wheel, and a whole different league of drive experience, where we will be able to sit back and truly enjoy the drive as our car becomes the chauffeur.

Jaguar Land Rover revealed this week that they will be investing £5.5 million over the coming three years in autonomous driving technology; ironically, though, the brand plan to have none other than humans pilot the self-drive cars. Why? In order to tailor and shape the cars autonomous driving style towards the natural drive of a daily commute, so as to compound drivers trust in the autonomous driving capabilities of the car. Jaguar Land Rover hope to glean valuable data from the drivers of their newest vehicles; with this tactic, they aim to develop newer systems, and potentially tweak future autonomous cars towards varying driving decisions and preferences and apply these to a daily drive and the ever-changing obstacles to it, such as adverse weather or merging vehicles.

The move to use humans to test the autonomous models, while appearing ironic, are a resolution to the resounding research that most of us find it hard to place whole-hearted trust in such self-drive Marques, resisting the motion to loosen their own grip on the control of the car – which, of course, is understandable; a car that drives like a robot cannot react to the many hazards constantly cropping up on the roads. However, should this method be successful, Jaguar Land Rover hope to counteract this common resistance between the drivers among us.

The autonomous technology will be tested on roads in the West Midlands, with final results gearing towards making driving safer, improving journey times and preventing the real thorn in our flesh – the traffic jam. Dr Wolfgang Epple, director of research and technology for JLT, said: “To successfully introduce autonomous cars, we actually need to focus more on the driver than ever before. Understanding how drivers react to a range of very dynamic and random situations in the real world is essential if we want drivers to embrace autonomous cars in the future.”

Signature Car Hire is truly excited by the keen technological age we live in, blessing us with the keys to autonomous driving within our very lifetime and making our roads as safe as possible; ultimately, suchlike research move towards manufacturing new cars that rid the need of human input. Such news does indeed motivate us, though, to push the pedals to the floor and soak up the true self-drive experience made available in our luxury car hire services.

Our Car Hire Fleet are ready and waiting for you to do the same; let Signature Car Hire, along with our fabulously conspicuous cars, work their charm in helping you to Make your Marque.